CPS expected to lay off more than 2,000 employees today

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CPS is expected to lay off more than 2,000 employees today, and more than half of them are teachers.

The layoffs are in addition to the more than 800 employees who were let go last month as a result of school closures.

District officials say the cuts are necessary in order to close a $1-billion budget deficit, which they blame on the lack of pension reform in Springfield.

About half of the teachers being let go today are tenured.

The Chicago Teachers Union says CPS lied to parents, employees and the public about keeping budget cuts away from the classroom.

CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett released this statement:

“As a former principal and teacher, I share the frustration felt by many of our principals, teachers, and parents about the difficult decisions our schools are being forced to make because of the historic $1 billion deficit facing our district. Driven by the lack of reform in Springfield, the pension crisis has arrived at our schools, and while we have reduced Central Office, administrative and operations spending by nearly $600 million since 2011 to mitigate the impact on our classrooms, we cannot cut our way out of this crisis. We need parents, LSCs, elected officials and school communities to join us as partners to secure pension relief and maintain critical investments that put our children on a path toward a bright future.”

2 comments

Chris

The CTU is already starting to complain. CPS is a business just like anything else. After years of mismanagement, they are finally trying to bring it back to a functioning organization. This is how business works. People lose their jobs everyday because of budget cuts, nothing makes you extra special because you are a teacher. You can find another job in Chicago or move to another place (what normal people do all the time).

For the record, I moved to Chicago for a job and have since been laid off twice because of departmental budget cuts. It happens, stop complaining and move forward.